Abu Dhabi Golf Championship: Jon Rahm keeps an open mind upon return from LIV Tour

Given all he has achieved in golf, it feels surprising that Jon Rahm, the European Ryder Cup hero, is only making his first trip to Abu Dhabi this week.

And, given the company he has kept for much of the recent past on the LIV Tour, it is a surprise he has bothered coming to Yas Links at all.

The 31-year-old Spaniard was a long-time teammate of Tyrrell Hatton on the breakaway tour, which both have subsequently left.

Hatton, the famously combustible Englishman, has reserved some choice analysis of the course on the shores of the Arabian Gulf in recent years.

He was once so antagonised by the par-5 18th hole, in particular, that he said it should be blown up. All of which is news to Rahm – although he does accept it sounds familiar.

“I spend a great amount of time with Tyrrell now, and I don't know how often he's given positive feedback on a golf course,” Rahm said, two days out from teeing it up at the Abu Dhabi Aldar Championship for the first time.

Hatton won the tournament the last time it was played at the National Course, before it was switched to Yas.

Despite his early misgivings, he must have built up some affection for the new venue in the time since; he was runner up behind Paul Waring two years ago.

Rahm, for one, is impressed by his own first view of it.

“You can't get too caught up on what [Hatton] may say at first because I think it's strictly dependent also on how he hits it that day,” Rahm said.

“But the one thing everybody has told me coming to this golf course is that it's always in great shape and there's a lot of movement to the greens. Overall, it's very positive, and Tyrrell was the same.

“He said it's in perfect shape. It's a good golf course, and there's going to be some unusual visuals in the greens and shots just because of how much undulation there is but overall it's good. He was very positive.”

This week is Rahm’s first trip back to the UAE since he announced his intention to leave LIV and return to golf’s established tours.

He is unsure of when that will mean a consistent return to the US. There is an automatic year ban from regular season PGA Tour events for LIV players, which means Rahm would be ruled out until the end of August 2027.

As such, his focus is the DP World Tour, of which he said, in a “worst-case scenario, I get to play on a wonderful tour for a whole year”.

“As of right now, I really don't know what 2027 is going to look like for me,” Rahm said.

“I have yet to have a discussion with the PGA Tour to see if there's any path back for next year. Until I get clarity on that, my plan would be to spend the year on the DP World Tour, and I'm looking forward to it.

“I will be supporting the tour, for sure, and even if I get to go and play PGA Tour events, I'll still play European Tour events, as well.”

Rahm will start at 9.01am on Thursday, alongside Matt Wallace and Ewen Ferguson.

At the start of the tournament, he sits in 51st place on the Race to Dubai standings, meaning he will have to improve his position if he is to make it into the season finale in Dubai next week.